The food was another tough decision that we had to make. You don’t want to starve out in the wilderness, but there’s also the risk that your drop-off lake is frozen over and you have to hike three miles with all 11 days worth of your food (I’m not bitter, you’re bitter) so you need to compromise on weight.

We packed a metric ton of food into our bags before Nick from Northern Alaska Packrafts came over and shook his head at how much we were trying to bring. He made a few suggestions and in the end, John and I took about half of the food that we bought at the store.

Below is the final list of food that we agreed to take with us. This was just about perfect for the 11 day trip.

• 2 x steaks
• 1 x pack of bacon
• 1 x stick of butter
• 1 x extra virgin olive oil
• 1 x salt and pepper
• 1 x honey
• 1.5kg quick oats (approximately)
• 6 x ramen (2 minute noodles)
• 3 x angel hair spaghetti
• 2 x small block of cheese
• 2 x summer sausage
• 1 x small salami
• 3 x oranges
• 2 x apples
• 3 x onions
• 4 x potatoes
• 1 x small bag of carrots
• 1 x small roll of aluminium foil
• 1 x gal. size bag of peanuts
• 1 x gal. size bag of almonds
• 1 x gal. size bag of peanut m&m’s
• 6 x sachets of tuna/salmon in olive oil
• 20 x small flour tortillas
• 12 x large whole grain tortillas
• 1 x clove of garlic
• Various chocolate bars
• 1 x jar of peanut butter
• 6 x trail bars
• 1 x bag of dried dates
• 2 x dehydrated backpacking meals
• 2 x fireball whiskey
• 6 x miller lite beer (Thanks Jay!)
• Mixed coffee/tea/hot chocolate
• 2 x condensed milk

The fireball and beer were frivolous additions, but we agreed that the benefits outweighed the weight. No regrets!